In some printers, the printing technique applied to each print job can be customized to correspond to the type of paper that is to be used. For example, the printing technique applied to plain paper may be different from the printing technique applied to glossy paper. While it is possible for a user to designate the type of paper that is to be used for each print job, this approach is subject to user error. For example, the user may change the paper type in the printer but forget to select the corresponding paper type in the printer interface or the user may select a desired paper type in the printer interface but forget to change the paper in the printer to the desired type. To ensure that the printing technique applied to each print job matches the paper type, it is desirable to be able to automatically determine the type of printing media in the printer. A technique for determining the type of printing media should be compatible with the small geometries of many printers and should provide reliable results.